The present invention refers to an apparatus for controlling the temperature of a cooking location of a cooking unit. More specifically, the present invention refers to a temperature limiter of a type having a temperature sensor including an outer tube and an inner rod accommodated in the outer tube and having a different coefficient of expansion, and a switch base connected to the temperature sensor and carrying contacts actuated by the temperature sensor.
Cooking units or cooktops have typically one or more cooking locations which serve as placement area for cooking utensils and are formed by a plate of ceramic glass and an underlying housing which defines with the plate a heating chamber. Such cooking locations can be heated in a wide variety of ways, e.g. by electric thermal resistors, halogen lights, gas or the like. Regardless of the type of heating element, overheating should be avoided to prevent a destruction of the glass ceramic plate. Typically, temperature limiters are employed to control and limit the temperature of the cooking location.
When using gas to heat the cooking location, it is necessary to provide within the heating chamber a gas igniter in addition to the temperature limiter. Thus, the housing wall must be formed with a passageway for the temperature sensor of the temperature limiter and with a passageway for the igniter so as to be disposed in the heating chamber, and moreover, when assembling the cooking location, both these structural components must be installed separately from one another, rendering the construction relative complicated and the overall assembly time-consuming.